Defeating Fear

Fear and the fear of fear (anxiety) have great power in martial conflict.  The struggle with fear relates to the internal aspect of the martial arts, or character development.  Conquering fear requires that a trainee increase their capacity to weather austerity as fear can only be created when two things exist: the presence of something painful, and one's inability to end the pain. 

Therefore, one conquers fear when they can either endure greater amounts of pain with dignity, or to end pain by removing the stimulus.

To endure greater amounts of pain requires control of one's breathing most importantly, as this is the first capacity to run out of control during pain or the threat of pain.  Before remembering or directly facing a painful stimulus, attempt to breathe in for four seconds, hold breath for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and then hold breath again for four seconds.  After repeating this procedure three times, the heart rate, body temperature, and adrenal system will be normalized and anxiety will be physically impossible.  This pattern is recommended immediately before direct confrontation with an opponent, immediately after the confrontation ceases, and whenever post traumatic stress begins to escalate.  By practicing this response, calmness in the face of pain will become automatic and enable one to unemotionally resolve conflict and cope with its fallout.

One can learn to end painful stimuli by adopting a pragmatic view of conflict.  Determine what things cause damage and take steps to systematically end them.  The methods of ending the painful stimuli can range from an elbow strike to a tactful objection and the mark of a martial artist is ending a situation with minimal effort and damage for all individuals concerned.  Improving one's ability to tactically resolve conflict will increase one's confidence and accordingly reduce fear.

The reader is advised to focus on breath control and to analyze potential conflicts tactically without emotion.  This will enable full suppression and elimination of fear.